Genesis: Dive Into The Blue
by A.R. Carpenter
Summary: Part 1. Every legend has a beginning, every hero a creation, every revolution a staring point. That day was May 10 2114, when a man named Doctor Cain discovered X, a robot which would change the world, forever.
1. Chapter 1: A hundred years waiting

Mega Man X and all assorted characters are all copyrighted to Capcom.

Tryne, Miss Maquin, and other assorted extras are all copyright to myself, A.R. Carpenter.

This story is copyrighted 2003 by A.R. Carpenter, reproduction of any part of this story in any medium is prohibited, unless with written permission from the author. Measures will be taken against anyone who alters, copies, distributes, or claims authorship. If you do, I get to send you on a one-way trip to the Threshold of Pain.

This fanfic is dedicated to:

NR – for passing on neat fanfic tips that allowed me to slug through this and finally make it.  
OC – for checking this fanfic and reviewing it, as well as giving me tips and support.  
Sunstorm - for also checking this fanfic and giving me great feedback.  
Shax – for passing on neat writing tips and showing me cool writing techniques.  
To the guys at NR's forum – for all your support and not lynching me when I nagged about my ineptness to write.

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Chapter 1: A hundred years waiting.  
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Drill droids, all of the same lemon yellow colour, scraped at the earth with various tools – shovels, dills, and pick axes, working continuously to remove the rock. Once an item was found on the scanners, the droids would move back and let the smaller, pink droids come in with their little brushes and brush away the soil carefully to unearth the item, place it in a sealed container and take it off to the green scanner droids. And then the yellow digger droids would move back in, and the process would begin again.

It was quite the marvelous system, really, that he had developed himself. While he majored in archeological sciences, he had the spirited knack for robotics that enabled him to create each and every single droid upon the excavation site, and making him rather famous for the achievement. It certainly made archeological investigations a whole lot easier, but he always had to remind himself that at the end of the day, a human made the big decisions.

And what a bad one he made, he sighed dismally to himself. He'd hoped that the dry desert would preserve some vegetation fossils, but as he checked over the current inventory of discovered items, there were only a few rocks, skeletons, and on one infamous occasion an unexploded land-mine from Jovian War III thirty years ago. That was a heart attack he certainly didn't appreciate.

He grumpily shut off the holographic holopad read-outs, "Well, no point in dragging this on. Might as well go on home – "  
A small beeping cut him off, and he pulled up the communications panel to one of his droid teams. The green droid began blandly, "Scanner droid #05A, Team A reporting. Doctor Cain, unusual metal substance detected in sector E-46. Heavy droid units unable to penetrate. Awaiting orders."  
Cain blinked once thickly, "…Or maybe not. Droid #05A, instruct your unit to remain on stand-by until I get there."  
"Understood."  
Cain deftly flicked off the holopad, blinking to himself for a moment before smiling, "Well, what do you know? Maybe there's a chance I'll find something after all!" 

He stood up from his seat nestled under a wide shading cloth, walking down a small sand incline to his small scooter resting on it's support frame. Kicking it up and firing up the hover engine, he blithely hopped on before gunning off into the mass of pits.

He drove it forward at a slow pace, moving smoothly across the sand dunes as his holopad map showed the way to sector E-46. The occasional droid skittered out of his way as he weaved through the excavation pits, until he eventually moved in on the sector in question. Shutting off his transport and hopping off, he went over to droid #05A, which was obediently waiting for his arrival.  
"This way, Doctor Cain." It said, and led the man over to a nearby pit, where the other droids were peacefully waiting in single file.

Perking a surprised eyebrow, Cain gazed down into the shallow hole that revealed thick metal plating, which gave off a dull clang when he experimentally whacked it with a spare shovel. Reaching into his pocket to get out his records, he skimmed through curiously, "Odd. No records show of any known buildings or land ownership out here. Secret military bunker perhaps?" he paused, before dismissing it, "Bah, I'd be blasted by now if that were true. Droid #05A, just how old do you think this metal is?"  
"Scanning indicates metal alloy was manufactured 105.67 years ago."  
"…Well, that's interesting," Cain stated lamely, before checking his digging permit, "Hm, … 'if said structure has been abandoned and no party holds ownership then said structure is open for entry'. Fits the bill, I suppose. Droid #05A, give a call for the High-Energy Molecule Beam and Hover- Platform to get over here."  
"Acknowledged."

A scant five minutes later, a team of transport droids escorted a large device mounted upon a steady set of hover-treadmills, floating easily up to the edge of the pit and hovering patiently. The large white Hover-Platform floated up nearby, settling down into the ground. Doctor Cain walked up to the holo-panel at the back of the HEMB, programming the path of the beam in a large, neat circle in the metal. Confirming the settings, he stood back and let the laser slowly cut the circle with a blazing pink beam of light. The old metal didn't put up much resistance, and the round cut-off section fell down with an almighty crash. Cain winced at the sound, before programming the HEMB to move back and wait on stand by. Ordering a drone to shine its head-mounted torch down the hole, Cain peered in and saw an empty corridor beneath him. Satisfied with that, he went over the Hover-Platform, using it's own holo-panel to guide it to float above the hole.

"Alrighty boys," he called to the droids, "Scanner droids from #05A to #05F, line up on the hover platform, now!"  
Obediently, the six green droids deftly rolled onto the white platform to form a neat line, Cain stepping on beside them. Giving the command, the panel slowly sank down into the corridor below.

-  


Cain let out a loud sneeze, his movements stirring dust high into the air, swirling in patterns in front of the beams of light from the droids around him.   
"Do you wish to summon a medi-bot?" asked one drone.  
"Bah, I'm fine…" Cain wheezed, squinting through the darkness. The re-enforced metal walls were lined with blossoming red rust and thick layers of grime, giving the air a sharp pungent smell. Large pieces of rubble lay cross-crossed across his path, wires hanging dismally from the ceiling as their power had long stopped flowing. As they moved deeper into the maze of the complex, most of the doors were sealed shut from rubble or disrepair, making only a few accessible. There was a very sparse sleeping quarters that contained only three toilette items and a spare change of clothes, and a massive storage area that held only a few large crates of raw materials. He was becoming more and more frustrated over the limited amount of areas he could access at this time, without bringing in a ruin excavation team, but finally he found one final door that seemed accessible.

"Capsule Storage Bay…isn't this interesting?" Cain mused to himself, before analyzing at the door. Just as he wondered how to try opening this one, it gave a sharp click, and neatly slid open for him.  
Cain flinched, startled at the sudden movement, confusion forgotten as he surveyed the dark murky room before him as it was quickly lit by his scanner droids. The room seemed to be better re-enforced than the other rooms, as it stayed rather intact with only a fine layer of small rocks and dust coating the floor.  
"Sensors indicate power signature." Droned one of the droids, moving diligently off towards it deep within the room. Cain slowly followed; eyeing how very empty the room was for a capsule storage bay, until his eyes lay upon one lonely capsule that the droids were now crowding around curiously. It was the largest Cain had ever seen – 14 feet long and 8 feet wide, and it was giving a gentle metallic hum. It had a thick tri-enforced titanium plating cover with a thin line of glowing green around the seal, and thick data-plugs snaked up into a massive computer console that took up the entire wall of the storage bay.

"Curiouser and curiouser…" Cain drawled as he tapped a button upon the lit console. Screens suddenly flared to life, a sea of data glowing upon the greens in an eerie green light. One screen flashed softly, the words ebbing in an urgent status message, which Cain moved over to read.  
"Let's see…diagnostics 100% complete. All stats code green. Diagnostics success – subject declared non-threat. Ready for activation…ho-kay. Hm?" Cain perked his head at the small message cue at the bottom of the status message. Using an input tool he selected it, and the status message vanished for a recorded video to suddenly display. It presented an old man with bushy white hair, his large beard and moustache resting on his round stomach. His slightly round face had mirthful rose cheeks, intelligent blue eyes twinkling sadly at the viewer, smiling weakly as he began;

**"Hello. My name is Thomas Xavier Light, expert in robotics and A.I. research. I leave this message to the future generations who shall stumble across this message and the hibernation chamber, and know of the legacy I've left them. Inside the capsule is a not a mere robot but a new evolution in robotics and Artificial Intelligence. His name is Mega Man X. 'X' is the first of a new generation of robots that contain an innovative new feature – the ability to learn but most important the ability to think, feel, and make their own decisions. However this ability could be very dangerous. If 'X' were to break the First Law of Robotics, "A robot must never harm a human being", the results would be disastrous and I fear that no force on Earth could stop him. Approximately 30 years will be required before we can safety confirm his reliability. Unfortunately I will not live to see that day, nor do I have anyone to carry on my work. Therefore, I have decided to seal him in this capsule, which will test his internal systems until his reliability has been confirmed. Please do not disturb the capsule until that time. I hope whoever finds this takes care of 'X', as I have. This legacy I leave to you.**

September 18, 20XX T. Light." 

"Your jaw is slack, sir. Do you now wish to summon a medi-bot?" a drone finally inquired after the silence.  
Cain snapped his mouth shut with a loud clack, his mind considerably numbed by the sheer weight of the situation. Turning around to see the capsule resting behind him and gazing at it for a long moment, he desperately tried to grasp that another Mega Man was waiting to be activated inside it. His curiosity began to burn wildly as more amazing possibilities of what he'd be like drove around in his mind.  
"This will drive me mad…" he snorted, before giving a long pause of thought. He finally turned to the lead scanner droid, "Alright, Droid #05A, send out a message to all excavation teams. Tell 'em to begin withdrawal procedures and pack up all equipment and findings immediately. Your team and the holo-panel stay put."  
"Acknowledged." The droid chirped, and connected up to the collective communications link to send the message. After a few clicks and whirs, it replied, "Message sent. All requested units are withdrawing."  
"Good," Cain nodded, before patting the lid of the titanium capsule, "Can't sleep the millennia away, my boy! Time for you to wake up!"

-  


=================

Diagnostics complete.  
  
Status: Code Green.  
  
…  
  
Computer activated  
  
Commencing activation procedures.  
  
Ion battery…confirmed. Code Green.  
CPU link up…confirmed. Code Green.  
  
Administering energy pulse…done.  
  
CPU patterns…Code Green.  
Circulatory systems…Code Green.   
Respiratory intake systems…Code Green.   
Integrated nerve network…Code Green.  
  
Activating CPU awareness…  
  
Done.   
  
=================  
  


The capsule slowly warmed up to a gentle hum after the green lights lining the capsule's seal flicked to white, cool wisps of pressurized air hissing out of the air vents. The seal hissed open as the lid of the capsule lifted a little, before sliding down with an elongated hiss before finishing with a snapping click. The mist of the pressurized air began to seep over the edges of the capsule, slowly revealing the sapphire blues of the robot's armour. He was lying solidly upon the cushioned blue interior, a face exactly like a slightly boyish young man around the age of sixteen, features slightly sharp but also seeming somewhat delicate. A helmet was clasped over his head that slightly hid his eyebrows, set upon the forehead with a brilliant red crystal. He slept silently, his breath quickening as he was brought to consciousness, before his emerald green eyes slowly fluttered open. He shifted and moved himself out of his position a little, and gave a gracious yawn, the oxygen boosting his system that allowed his eyes to fully focus.

Tones and colours shifted into focus as he followed the immediate instinct to sit up, head swivelling around as he observed his surroundings, until he saw Doctor Cain. He was an old middle-aged man with a long and fine white beard and moustache with a bald head, a slightly hooked nose with little smile crinkles like cracks around his eyes, a deep hazel as he stared in awe at the robot, who stared right back.  
"…Well hello." Cain began, after a long dramatic pause.  
"H…" the robot began, mouth slowly wrapping itself around the word, "H-hello."  
"Charmed. My name is Doctor Ernest Cain."  
"N…n-nice to…m-meet you, Doctor Cain," the robot greeted, but the words seemed rather flat and meaningless, "I am X."  
"Well now, I figured that. X, could you tell me what memory clusters you have?" Cain inquired.  
After the briefest of pauses X replied candidly, "Memory clusters consist of instructions of verbal speech in five recognised languages, basic movement functions, level 1 general information, and human manners."  
Cain arched his eyebrows, "Very sparse, that. I suppose we'll take you back to the porta-home for now. Can you get out of there?"  
"Yes." Was the frank reply, and he slowly swung his legs over the edge of the capsule to let them rest on the floor. Bending the knees straight he stood up…for a few seconds, before wobbling sharply, arms flailing akimbo in a spirited attempt to remain upright.

Cain grabbed his arm and held him steady before X fell on his face, "You alright?"  
"All systems normal. Balance systems have not yet calibrated."  
"Fair enough. Now how would we go about balancing them?"  
"Balance systems shall calibrate automatically after testing." X replied.  
"Ah…so you've got to practice!" Cain hooked his arm with X's, "Well, I'll help you keep steady while you get the hang of it. Ready to start walking?"  
"Yes."   
"Righto…off we go!" Cain smiled, slowly walking forward as X wobbled to keep one foot firmly in front of the other. As they transversed across the room his steps slowly began more solid, until they moved into the hallway where he was walking only a slightly unsteady walk. Cain gave a silent sigh of relief to himself that he had the foresight to command his droids to remove most of the heavy rubble – he wouldn't know how X would handle the uneven surfaces and obstacles.  
"Doctor Cain?"  
Cain snapped to attention to X, as he curiously analyzed the halls around him, "Yes, X?"  
"Where are we?"  
"Fair question. Well, this is a hidden underground laboratory, which I have discovered a day or so ago. It's very old, and everything is in disrepair…you understand so far?"  
"Yes."  
"Good. Now, I found that room you were in, and according to the computer read-outs, you were ready to be activated. And so, I did."  
"Why?"  
Cain faltered in step at the sudden question, "Well… you know what curiosity is, don't you X?"  
"An eager desire to know, or inquisitiveness." X stated bluntly.  
"Righto. I was very curious of what you were like, so I opened the capsule to find out."  
"So you activated me because you were curious about me?" X asked.  
"That's right. …Ah, here's the Hover-Platform," Cain noticed as he spotted the white platform resting on the floor and slowly eased X to a stop in front of it, "This is a hover-platform – a platform that can hover, basically. It will take us up to the surface…now, can you step onto it?"  
X didn't reply immediately, instead slowly bringing up one knee to step up onto it, wobbling but otherwise fine. Cain smiled as he did the same, "Nice job, X. Now I'll bring this up."  
X watched with interest as Cain activated the hover console, before it slowly began to float up. Unprepared for the sudden movement, X gave a startled yelp as he finally fell over onto his behind.  
"You alright?" Cain asked.  
"Systems normal." X replied.  
A smirk wound up on his face, "You could just say 'yes' in response, X."   
"Oh. Yes." X agreed, before his eyes averted to widen in awe. Cain looked over to see the wide desert plains he saw before, with the vibrant and cloudless blue sky above. The excavation team was gone, a hover transport waiting nearby. Blinking in confusion, he looked back at X, eyes wide as his mind cataloged and analyzed intense streams of information. New colors and perspective flowed into comprehension. And throughout, X was nothing short of awed.   
Cain rubbed his chin, realizing that X had an ability nothing else had – he could experience the simplest yet most amazing things, like seeing a sky or new color for the first time, and actually have the intellect to realize it. Cain dryly mused to himself he was too big for his britches when it came to helping this sort of…being. He needed help.  
"X?" Cain ventured finally, allowing X a good few minutes to soak in his surroundings.  
X quickly shut off his input to look at Cain, "Yes?"  
"Sorry to disturb you, but we can't stay here all day! We're going to see some friends of mine."  
X slowly stood up, "Who?"   
"Just some other scientists. Now come along, X. You've got a lot to learn in the world, and best we start now!"

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  


Cain watched X as he squirmed in his seat, obviously not pleased with his seatbelt. He had complained when he had first been strapped in that it limited the movement of his upper abdominal region, but after Cain explained it was necessary, he didn't say anything else. He still squirmed a bit, but for the most part, he was fiddling with a few various objects. Right now he was concentrating on bending a fork into a circle. It wasn't much, but Cain was thankful he no longer fiddled with the transport controls. Two near heart attacks in one day was not good for his health.

As his findings and robot units flew back to the Archaeological Institute, both Cain and X flew off to Edo, the robotics capital of the world. It was one the home of Doctor Light, the best robotics genius to have ever lived, and as a result everything and anything robotic was created and funded there. Right now Cain was taking X to Light Industries, a famous robot design company founded by Doctor Light himself. He was well known there, signing contracts with them to mass-produce some of his robotic designs. Apart from teaching X everything they could, Cain was intensely curious just what this little robot was capable of – the way he worked and functioned, his mental capabilities, Cain stressed that they use almost every means available to find out how this blue wonder worked. There were no plans in Doctor Light's lab, nothing.

And Cain felt quite a maternal instinct towards X – he had never married, never had children, and now that he was responsible for this innocent newborn robot, he couldn't help but feel protective. He could never have the heart to simply turn X over to someone else and let them tinker with him without his say so – he knew he was dealing with something special here, and he would never let it be squandered by some greedy fools who didn't care about X's child like innocence. All Cain had to do was look at that youthful, pure face and know he had to take care of him. 

_I hope whoever finds this takes care of Mega Man X, as I have._

Doctor Light sure was trusting. What if some military organization found him instead, or some other group that would only want to take advantage of X? It must have been the purest luck no one else found the lab…or was it? There had been the Jovan Desert War just near there, and Cain doubted it was only luck that the lab wasn't found. 

Oh to heck with it. He'd only give himself a migraine if he sat there and asked himself answerless questions.

The hovercraft banked slightly, making X perk his head and whip it around himself in confusion. Air jets under the wings blew out air, acting as flaps to slow the descent of the hover transport as it lowered itself down to the landing pad. Cain took this transport to ensure the ride would be as smooth as possible, but it seemed X's sensors were more sensitive than he thought. He had begun to hawkishly look around in confusion, mind vainly trying to process what was happening and what to do.

"X! X!" Cain bolstered, capturing the robot's attention, "Don't worry, X. Everything's fine."  
"What is happening?"  
"Just lowering the aircraft down onto the landing pad."  
After these words, X settled down almost immediately, settling down into his seat. Cain was quite honestly surprised.

"Right, we're here." Cain smiled, unclipping his seatbelt and standing up. To his total amazement, X had observed what Cain had done and unbuckled his own seatbelt. Well, not exactly – X had tried pressing the release switch, but had ended up crushing the whole buckle in his hand with total ease. The metal buckle, freed from the plastic clasp, whipped through the air and slapped X across the face. The blue robot yelped and clamped his hands to his injured nose, a surprisingly human reflex.  
"You alright?"  
X took his hands away and sniffed, "All system functions normal. Injury minimal."  
A small pause.  
"Yes." X finished.  
"Ah, brilliant. Come on, X, we've got to go."

The pair walked out of the transport onto the top of a large skyscraper, protected by a retractive dome of blue glass that opened for VIP hover transports. It protected them from the harsh wind, smog, noise, and sun, which Cain was glad for, as he was sure all that would alarm X even more.

Two attendants in dark suits were waiting for him, one of them smiling cordially, "Doctor Cain, nice to see you again."  
"Nice to see you too, Renard," Cain returned the smile, "I hope we're not late?"  
"Not at all sir," Renard replied, "Miss Maquin is waiting for you now. This way please."

The two men turned on their polished heels sharply and lead Cain with his companion towards the elevator booth on the far side of the landing pad, swiping a key card through an entry panel to open up the doors. They all moved inside the rather spacious elevator carriage, and Renard pressed a button for the 102nd floor. X was looking around at the tiny room with a form of curious puzzlement, and thus quite unprepared when the lift started moving. The hydraulic shock absorbers made the lurch smooth, but the still clumsy X let out a squeak and fell onto the floor.  
The two attendants frowned rather sharply in confusion, one asking with good-naturedly, "Urm, is your robot assistant alright?"  
"Um, yes," Cain replied, trying to display a dismissive smile, "He has some slight problems with his balancing systems."  
"Should have that checked, sir. Something like that could be dangerous." The attendant suggested, watching bemusedly as Cain helped X to his feet.  
"Ah, yes, I'll be doing that very soon." Cain affirmed, and was rather relieved when the elevator came to a taut stop, breaking the tension in the tiny space as they moved out. Cain hooked his arm with X's as they went down the hallway, who blinked a few times as he looked back to the elevator, then the corridor, and then the elevator again as his mind tried to process this extremely confusing situation.  
"Hey, what's wrong, now?" Cain asked at a low volume.  
"…Where are we?" X asked, copying his low tone, "Where is the sky?"  
"This is the 102nd level of the building, X," Cain replied "The small room we entered, an elevator, moved downwards from the top of the building to this location."   
"Oh." X noted intelligently.  
"This is the private conference room, sir. Miss Maquin is already waiting for you." Renard offered, opening the door slightly for him.  
"Thank you Renard. Come on, X." Cain called, and the robot filed in behind him.

Inside was a red-carpeted room, adorned with replicated wood panelling – most wood forests were now protected by law – and a large replicated oak wood table surrounded by plush blue chairs. Large tinted windows lined the far wall, casting bright blue light into the room and revealing a vivid view of the city below.  
A woman, with short wavy red hair and immaculate attire of a pressed navy dress suit, primly stood from her chair and transversed over the Doctor Cain to shake his hand.  
"Ah, Doctor Cain," she acknowledged respectfully, "It's a pleasure to meet you again. I hear you major in archaeology primarily now."  
"Indeed, although those droids we had made really came in handy with some of my recent digs." Cain smiled merrily, following the woman to sit down around the conference table. He needed some help from Cain, but X sat down in his chair gracefully enough this time.  
"According to your message, you've just recently discovered an invention of Doctor Light's on one of those digs. I'm extremely curious, Doctor Cain." The woman implored. "Right, right," Cain agreed, before leaning back to begin, "I discovered a small laboratory in the middle of the Jovan Desert, that indeed belonged to Doctor Light. Most of it is empty and dilapidated, ruined beyond repair, but I found two very interesting things – a still functioning computer, and an occupied capsule."  
Obviously very surprised, her tone was quick when she asked, "Occupied? By a robot?"  
"Indeed! Fully functioning, as well! Actually, the robot had undergone diagnostics when I discovered the capsule. Seeing it was complete, I opened the capsule and let the robot out."  
"You did? What happened?" She almost demanded.  
"Why not ask him yourself?" Cain suggested slyly, a cat-like grin on his face when he turned to X, "X, this is Miss Maquin, CEO of Light Industries. She's rather distantly related to your creator. Miss Maquin, please meet Mega Man X."  
"Hello. Nice to meet you." X greeted politely.  
Miss Maquin didn't respond. In fact, she was leaning back rather hard in her chair, reeling back as she stared, wide-eyed and mouth speechless, as her mind tried to process the situation. Eventually her staring eyes began to examine X up and down, until she finally half-whispered her dumbfounded realization, "Great Scott you **are** a Mega Man. I've studied his diagnostics a hundred times and I can simply **tell**, simply **know** – " she snapped her mouth shut when she noticed her behaviour, clearing her throat and reaching out a hand, "A pleasure to meet you, Mega Man X."  
X recognised the gesture, but shook her hand rather lamely, "Thank you. Doctor Cain calls me X."  
"May I call you that?"  
"Yes."  
"I…" Miss Maquin grasped for the words, "How do you know this was a Mega Man?"  
"Ah," Cain smiled knowingly, reaching around in his bag to retrieve a small data-disk, "I managed to record this data-file I found when I discovered X."  
Miss Maquin took the offered disk and slid it into a small slot built into the side of the desk, a small round pad in the middle of the desk lit up with a ghostly green light, the shutters upon the windows automatically closing. Doctor Light's hologram message appeared, again reciting his warning about X and his unique AI program, until the message ended and the room was once again light by the sunlight. X seemed rather fascinated by the entire event.  
Miss Maquin seemed a few shades paler as she grasped for slowly crumbling composure, "I…I suppose this is rather reasonable evidence."  
"The only real evidence I could find, actually," Cain sighed, "Apart from that, there isn't anything that explains anything about X. Which is why I brought him here."  
"Oh?" Miss Maquin blinked.  
"Well, seeing as this is Light Industries, I figured this would be the best place to bring him. You'd be the most prepared to handle him, and I am rather well known here," Cain explained, "I was wondering if you'd be willing to devise a project to scan X and learn how the little guy works."  
"I see. I'm rather glad you came to us, Doctor Cain," Miss Maquin said, "The technology industry is rather cut-throat."  
"No kidding," Cain nodded rather grimly, lips becoming a thin line, before turning warmly to X, "I think you'll like it here, X. We'll be able to teach and show you a lot of things here."  
"Like what archaeology is?" X queried.  
"Ha ha, yes, that and more." Cain laughed merrily.  
Miss Maquin's brow furrowed in confusion, "I'm afraid I don't understand."  
"X here is very special you see – there's a lot you need to know…"


	2. Chapter 2: Revolutionary attitude

=============================  
Chapter 2: Revolutionary attitude  
=============================

The area around X was filled with the low hums and chirps from the surrounding computers, checking and processing data, as the blue robot lay quietly on a metal table. A long metal plug reached from a small plug nestled in a usually seamless panel, into the computer matrix as a group of technicians scanned his CPU matrix.   
Doctor Tryne, a young man with slightly tanned skin, pushed back some spare locks of long black hair that escaped his ponytail. After giving the data-streams one last stare, he gave a long sigh before striding out of the scanning room, moving along the corridors until he finally saw Cain and Miss Maquin moving his way.  
"Doctor Tryne?" Miss Maquin prompted.  
"I came to see if you had both finished your contract meeting. We're finishing up X's neural scanning now, and, um…" he momentarily flailed, "Having slight problems."  
"Brief us on the way there, if you please." Miss Maquin ordered.  
"Alright," Tryne walked slightly in front of them as to not block the hallway, "We've almost scanned all of X's programming and data, and it's extremely complex. Its taking two super-computers to process it all, and it'll take us weeks, maybe months to fully analyze it all. I've never seen anything like it."  
"He's got that much in his noggin?" Cain mused.  
"Maybe, but it's also very complex coding – this is an invention of Doctor Light. From what you've told us, Doctor Cain, the type of programming necessary to achieve his behavior must be legendary."   
"Fair enough."  
"However, we're having problems scanning his final core programming. They're so obscenely complex and multifaceted that we or not even the computers can much any sense out of it. We think that maybe there might be some security coding woven in there, but his very core programming…" he flapped his arms in a despairing shrug, "Who knows?"  
"So you can't figure out how he works?" Miss Maquin asked.  
"Well, yes, for the most part. I mean, Light has created things we've never seen before, but we're starting to figure it out. Without X's final programming we won't be able to understand him completely, but I think we'll understand most of it."  
"Good." Miss Maquin approved.

As they moved into the scanning room, the area still alive with rapid streams of data scrolling through the screens, Cain cast a glance at X, "So Tryne, am I right on the idea he only has a few files of knowledge?"  
"Oh, yes," Tryne nodded, "You're quite right there – he's only got basic data on how to speak, move, and level 1 on basic knowledge. Things like tree, ball, person. He's not dumb by any means – he's got a super-computer for a brain. As smart as these we've got running here, if not smarter. He's just…"  
"Naïve?" Cain finished.  
Tryne stuck a confirming finger in his direction, "Right. For him, with a mind that changes with his experiences, having too much programming in there would just conflict and confuse him. It'd be easier for him to start from scratch. Thus, we've gotta teach him ourselves."  
"Doubt we'll can send him to high-school," Cain sighed, "Maybe…we could make some sorta of system where we'd teach him everything he'd need to know. Or enough so he could wander around without killing himself with curiosity."  
Tryne gave a cock-eyed look, "So purchase some learning programs? What'll we start with?"  
"He needs more levels of basic knowledge first, I would think," Miss Maquin suggested, "He at least needs to know up to level 12 until we can teach him anything else."  
"Right. Then maybe world geology and history, social sciences, economics, sciences, so forth…" Tryne listed, "But with just level knowledge, I don't know if any existing programs will help."  
"Why not just whip up some?" Cain suggested, "We could just program up a little basic learning program with the basics, and then get something like an encyclopedia of history. Basic children's stuff."  
"Right. I'll contact some programming staff and get them on that immediately. If you'll excuse me." Miss Maquin quickly strode out.

"So…" Tryne ventured after a small silence, "What was that contract about, if you don't mind me asking. Planning on mass-producing this guy?"  
"Oh no, no, no, I'm curious. I want to know how he works and such. But on the other hand, I don't want him to be dissected. So the contract means that I'll oversee this project and all procedures have to be a-okayed by yours truly." Cain chuckled.  
Tryne's face was surprisingly neutral, "Good idea," he dead-panned, before turning away to stare at X, "Never know, these days."

-  
  


"Alright, sit on down, X," Cain began, and the robot compliantly did so, "We've quickly whipped up a program here that'll help you learn a little, so I'll show you how you work it."  
"Okay."  
Cain blinked, "What?"  
"I said okay," X restated, "That is a word for affirmative, correct?"  
"Yeah…but why are you using it now?"  
"I heard you say it."  
"…Fair enough. Righto. Now, this is a screen – a graphical representation of data. You only have level 1 on basic knowledge; this'll teach you about the second level and beyond that. With me so far?"  
"Yeah."  
Cain gave a cough, but continued onwards, "Now you activate the data by touching these prompts, see the labels? Like that one."  
"Page 1."  
"Yup. Now press it."  
X reached up and pressed the button upon the holographic screen, watching as the screen changed from a menu to a page of words and pictures. The robots eyes eagerly scanned all the letters in mere seconds, and followed the prompts to see larger pictures and animation videos.

[Abacus; An oblong frame with rows of wires or grooves…]

After absorbing the information, X went to the next page and consumed the information just as easily. Cain perked his eyebrows as he observed X analyze the information with complete concentration and curiosity. Page after page flicked past, the only delay was the few scant minutes for reading the information or simply watching any animations.

[Level 5 complete. Loading Level 6…] 

Watching from another room, Miss Maquin gaped, "How is it he can absorb information so quickly?"  
"Well, this is only a theory at this point, but if he's got to learn, he's gotta learn fast, right?" Tryne suggested, "For a robot, he needs to get up to speed, and since he constantly learns through his life, he needs to understand things quickly."  
"So it's a part of his design," Miss Maquin drawled thoughtfully, "We were experimenting with this before, using downloads, but this way seems so efficient."  
"We're gonna have to be careful, ma'am, seeing how many regulations there are on –"  
"I know that," she snapped harshly, "Creating so many limitations because they're still so petrified from the Wily Wars. Can't make them too smart, strong, or human-like. How disgusting."  
Tryne shifted uneasily, "Uh, well, we've been scanning through X's data, and we noted something very interesting."  
"**What?**"  
"…He's not programmed with the Three Laws of Robotics."  
Miss Maquin stared at him in alarm, "What!?"  
"It's just like Light's hologram said; X can freely make his own decisions. The Three Laws would only hinder that. So if he felt like it…"  
"He could break the First Law." Miss Maquin gasped.  
"Well, if he ever did, I think it'd be because he didn't know better. Right now, he doesn't have enough experience to know what the emotion 'hate' is. He's got no valid reason to hurt anyone."  
"That will change, you know that."  
"True, but, well…humans aren't programmed. All of us could hurt another if we wanted. But not all of us do – why? Because we've taught it's wrong to do that. So along with teaching X about stuff like history and social sciences, we must teach him ethics and morals. And the laws of society. To do the right thing, really."  
Miss Maquin irritably tapped her fingers on her arm as she crossed them, "He's still rather dangerous. He can't be controlled."  
"That's a good thing, isn't it?" Tryne said.  
She frowned, "How so?"  
"Well, the regulations are in place because they're scared that like in the Wily Wars, you can just program a smart robot and order it to take over the world. With X, you can't do that. You can't say 'X, go shoot that tree', because X has free will. He won't unless he **wants** to. X is too complex for a war-robot, seeing as you have to teach him and all."  
"Seems like my distant uncle didn't want a repeat of the wars either. So…X is far too independent to be a major threat."  
Tryne lifted his eyebrows; "It may be too early to say this, but a threat? Him?" 

They both looked into the next room where X was already breaching level 11, watching in childish amusement as a video of Asian dancers wafted across the screen. He was mimicking Cain and gently moving in tune to the music.

"We'll have to see, I think," Miss Maquin mused quietly, "Let him study for the rest of the afternoon. We'll begin physical analyzing tomorrow."

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  


At the precise time of 8:30 the next morning, Cain awoke X from his stasis inside his own small personal room in the labs, and walked with him down the many corridors of the Light Industries building. The walls were a gentle white with a deep downy blue carpet or tiles, tinted further blue from the sunlight through the tinted windows. The air was very clean, yet held a sharp edge of metal and industrial cleaner.

Cain led X into one of the Scanning and Examination Labs, merrily heading to the large scanning capsule. It was more of a bubble five meters in diameter made of tinted blue glass, a ring of chirping computer consoles around the sides save for a small space reserved for some steps. Tryne, who was waiting for them, pressed a few buttons and the bubble split down the middle and retracted, revealing the padded interior.  
"If you don't mind, X, what I'd like you to do first is step inside and lay down." Tryne asked.  
X looked intimidated by the capsule and didn't move. He looked to Doctor Cain who smiled and nodded. Taking the hint of encouragement, X clumsily crawled up the steps and lay down. The dome restored itself over him, tinting his vision blue.  
Tryne pressed a few more buttons and activated the communication link, "X, you hear me?"  
X looked around for the source of the unknown voice. It sounded familiar to Tryne's, but was scratchy and tinny, and came from numerous sources. He finally spotted Tryne grinning at him and blinked in confusion.  
"Sorry, X. Y'know what electronic communication is?"  
X nodded, "The transmission and reception of sound messages by converting acoustic vibrations to electrical signals."  
"Yeah. We've just got a lot of sound output devices in there, so that's why you hear from a lot of sources."  
"Oh. I see."  
Cain smiled at him through the glass, "Now, I want you to stay nice and still, okay? There's gonna be some scanners and lights and whatnot, but just shut your eyes and relax and don't worry about a thing. Nothing bad is gonna happen."  
"Understood."  
"Excellent! Tryne, take it away!"

X shut his eyes and slipped into stasis as a number of machines danced above him, first dipping close and scanning his armour, face, and other outer membranes of his body. After ensuring X was in deep stasis and wouldn't awaken, the machines searched for the right spot to activate the chest plates of the armour, breaking the seamless panels to reveal his inner workings. Scanning lasers and sensors all around inside, picking up readings and mapping out his internal structures. More armour was eventually unclasped, scanned and slightly prodded. 

After all the long hours of scanning, X was eventually sealed all the way back up. X was brought out of stasis, who sat up and yawned to boost his systems. He seemed rather unruffled by the experience, and wiggled his way out of the pod.  
"There, now that wasn't so bad, was it?" Cain asked kindly.  
"Negative. I was hesitant, however." X agreed.  
"Fair enough. Tryne?"  
"We're done here, at least for a while." Tryne said, as the computers gathered the collected data.  
"Okay. You did very well, X," Cain said, and noticed that X's face had lightened at that.  
"Thank you, Cain." X replied, a small edge of happiness moving into his voice.  
"No problem. Well, come along X, we got work to do. Coming Tryne?"  
"Right, coming." Tryne responded, following them out the room and down the corridor.  
"What are we doing today?" X asked.  
"Well, yesterday we helped teach you a lot of things about the world. Today, we're going to help you learn how to move around easier. Smashing tables isn't good, now is it?" Cain asked, perking an eyebrow at him.  
X looked somewhat glum, "I did not intend to do that…"  
Cain patted his shoulder, "Naw, it's alright, it was an accident. It was in a stupid place anyway."  
"Cain?"  
"Yes?"  
"Why are you testing my systems? Is something wrong?" X asked, a slight edge of concern moving into his voice.  
"No, nothing's wrong! Heck, you're only a few days old, brand new. But see, I want to help you learn about the world so you'll be happy in it, but to do that, I gotta learn about you. Understand?"  
X nodded, "Yeah."

The group walked through the door into a small observation room with a large window leading into what seemed to be a small exercise room. A single treadmill was installed inside it for now, surrounded by sensors and a large data cable flowing out of it into the observation room, which was filled with computers.  
Tryne turned to the blue robot, "Feel ready, X?"  
"Ready for what?" X blinked.  
"Touché. Well see that room in there – that's a treadmill, something you can practice running on."  
"So I am provided with training that will help me learn motory skills for future use?"  
"Yup," Tryne nodded, "If you'll come with me, we'll get you prepped."

X dutifully followed into the adjoining room, where Cain watched through a viewing window as Tryne and some other scientists attached small sensors to X's body as he explained the procedure. X curiously blinked and moved onto the treadmill, data moving across the screens as the sensors transmitted information.  
"Interesting, isn't he?" Miss Maquin observed, as she moved into the room.  
Cain turned and gave a smile, "Ah, top of the morning to you, ma'am!"  
"Thank you," she replied dryly, watching X for a few moments, "He moves so much like a human, so fluidly and yet he seems quite unsure at times."  
"Well to nitpick, he didn't move so human-like when he first woke up – he moved somewhat mechanically. But I think he's been picking up on the way I walk and move and such…I don't know if that's a conscious thing or not."  
"Hm?"  
"I mean, humans can involuntary pick-up things from their surroundings, like accents and gestures, so forth. You don't even realize it most of the time. X has already consciously begun mimicking some speech-patterns, but there's a lot more he's picking up. Notice his voice isn't so flat?"  
"Yes, indeed…he seems to put more meaning into greetings now, doesn't he?" Miss Maquin noted.  
"And it's only been a day or so!" Cain cackled, before watching data fly past, "Hm, isn't this interesting? Look at how he moves!"  
"He must have revolutionary magnetic ball-and-socket joints; that must be how he's running so smoothly."  
"Look at him go…whup, spoke too soon."  
"Ow!"  
Miss Maquin stared, "Did he just say 'ow'!?"  
"Well, seems like. You okay, X?" Cain asked through a microphone.  
X looked around owlishly in search for Cain's voice, unaware of the speakers throughout the room, and finally blinked at him when Tryne directed where to look, "…Yeah, I am okay. I tripped and fell off the treadmill. Injury minimal." X replied.  
Miss Maquin started to frown incredulously, "…Is he **pouting**?"  
Cain grinned at that, but didn't reply, "Do you want to keep trying, X?"  
"Yeah," X replied, getting back onto the treadmill, "May I run at a slower speed?"  
"Uh, sure, no problem…" Tryne replied, adjusting the settings.

However, it wasn't too long that X took a few more crashes, until one final time where X lost his footing – and after a desperate bout of flailing around to get upright again – went flying off the treadmill at a merry speed and landed harshly on his rear end with a yelp. After a moment of waiting for his systems to get back in functional order, he sat himself up, and refused to move.  
A scientist next to the treadmill gave a sigh, "Come on, let's do it again."  
"No."  
Everyone stared at X with surprise, as the scientist flabbergasted, "What?"  
"This exercise has proven stressful and laborious. I do not wish to continue."  
"Get back on the treadmill." The scientist growled.  
"No."  
"I order you. Do it!"  
"No!"  
"Dern, calm down!" Tryne admonished.  
"Listen, robot, you – "  
The scientist was cut off as a cane smacked him quite hard over the head. Cain, who had flown into the room, gave him a nasty scowl, "Now that's enough, you smarmy jerk. If X says no, he bloody well means no!" he turned to X, who was looking quite upset, "Want to take a break for now?"  
X sullenly nodded.

-  
  


X was being quite well entertained by a hologram rubik cube as Miss Maquin gathered up a small group of scientists, including Tryne and Cain in a nearby meeting room. She let out a frustrated sigh, "Due to an earlier incident today, I have gathered all of you here to be the team that will work on studying X. Doctor Dern is no longer going to be in contact with X due to his outburst. I chose all of you because you're more open to X's revolutionary attitude, but I must ask you be as tolerant as possible. Remember, X has the perfect ability to file a complaint and it will be acted on," she calmed down before continuing, "You've all been briefed on how X's mind works, but the fact is, we need X's co-operation if we're going to learn about him and thusly help him. This is a brain-storming session – any suggestions are welcome."  
A female scientist hesitantly spoke, "Um, well, I may be speaking the obvious in that we've somehow got to get X to want to do the exercises. Of course, finding out how is the hard part."  
"Well, any human voluntarily does things for various reasons…" another said, "Like it's your job, that you enjoy doing it…"  
"Is that it, though? Did he just find it too painful? What exactly didn't he like? If we knew his exact complaint and changed the exercises a bit, then maybe he'd want to."  
"I could follow up on that and ask X now, if you like." Cain suggested.  
"Please." Miss Maquin nodded.

Cain excused himself from the room and made his way to the small room where X was still playing with his rubik cube, almost completing it. Musing on what he was going to do with the blue robot, Cain sat down at the table near to X, who gave a somewhat blank greeting smile.  
Cain raised his eyebrows, "Are you enjoying that, X?"  
"I find it very interesting and intriguing." X replied, twisting another section.  
"X, may I ask why exactly you don't like the treadmill?" Cain asked. He was quite surprised when he noticed X's expression become more sullen.  
"It was stressful and laborious work. The speed was difficult to keep pace with, and it hurt. It is an unpleasant experience." X informed quietly.  
"Well, if we let you go at your own pace, would that be better?"  
X shook his head, "I still find it unpleasant. I do not see much reason why it is necessary."   
"Well, remember like in the elevator? The world is full of unexpected bumps and so you won't get hurt, you've got to be prepared for them. That's what the treadmill is for; so you can practice, so you can master your motory systems. At least when you fell off, you landed onto a cushioned floor – if you fell over outside onto hard ground, that'd hurt a lot more."  
"Oh, okay." X noted, but still seemed rather hesitant.  
"Still not warm to the idea of going back in?"  
"No. I can understand the importance, but I do not enjoy the experience," X was silent for a moment, "What do humans do when they must complete a task they dislike?"  
"Hm? Why humans do it?"  
"Yes."  
"Well, if there's something we don't like doing – like taxes, or washing the car – we do it not only because we realize the necessity, but we get a reward."  
"Reward?"  
"Sure. You do something you don't like as long as you get something as you like for a reward. That way it's fair," Cain gave a cunning smile, "I'll tell you what. If you like, we'll buy some more puzzles and games for you to play. If you try again with the treadmill, then we'll let you play games as a reward. That sound good?"  
X's face had brightened, "Different games? How many are there?"  
"Plenty, hundreds in fact!"  
X smiled, "Okay. I can attempt the treadmill again."  
"Sure. This time you can go at your own pace, okay?"  
"Okay!"

"Hello, pardon me…" Cain smiled as he walked back into the conference room.  
"So? How'd it go?" Tryne asked.,br "X and I have worked out a little agreement. He thinks he's ready to try the treadmill again."  
"What?! How?" one scientist demanded.  
"Well, he didn't particularly like the treadmill, but then I told him if he tried again – at his own pace, mind you – then I'd give some more games. He quite likes the rubik cube."  
Everyone gave each a long, fixed stare of confusion, but Miss Maquin nonetheless complied, "Alright, then, I shall send someone to purchase some more games for him. Is he ready?"  
"Raring to go."  
"…Let's give this another try, then."

-  
  


Sensors re-attached, X stepped back onto the treadmill, beginning at an easier level. The team watched rather curiously this time to see how far the robot would go this time around.  
"So explain your reasoning, Doctor Cain. How did you know this would work?" Miss Maquin asked.  
"I didn't really," Cain admitted, "But he asked me what humans did when they didn't want to do something. Really, it isn't so weird rewarding him for this – it is rather stressful for a young robot. Besides, most humans are trained by using a reward system, so why not?"  
Tryne scratched his head, "Um, I got someone to run down and get some games, but do you think he'll be satisfied with that?"  
"Well, for now. We can find other fun things for him to do – all work and no play makes a dull robot, right?" Cain proclaimed merrily.  
Tryne gave a frown, "I don't know…are we overestimating him? He is the final creation of Doctor Light, and I never doubt his work, but …X is over a century old."  
"Much of robot technology was lost at the end of the 20XX era…along with Doctor Light and his creations," Miss Maquin informed quietly and almost wistfully, "So we have been set back a bit."  
"I know, and he is advanced physically…but X was an experiment. Who knows if it worked?"  
"It's a bit early to judge that, Doctor Tryne."  
"I know…but he Mega Man X, and maybe we're expecting too much from him. That's not exactly…" Tryne grasped for a word, "Well, fair…"  
"…Um, sir?" a nearby scientist said hesitantly.  
"Hang on for a sec, Mary."  
Cain boggled at the data readings, "I think you both want to see this, Tryne. Look at him."  
Tryne frowned slightly in annoyance before his swivelled his head towards the blue robot, before slowly his eyebrows began to rise up his forehead.   
"S-sir!" Mary squeaked, "His performance has almost instantly doubled!"  
X, as if given some form of determination, every time he fell over he simply stood up and remounted the treadmill. The group of humans watched as X steadily progressed faster and faster through the levels of treadmill training, his error ratio plummeting down as X learned his steps on the machine. In only half an hour, thus shattering the completion records of any robot before him, X finished the final level and dismounted the treadmill.  
"I have completed the necessary requirements." X stated the obvious.  
He was met with a small silence as the humans present stared in nothing short than complete surprise, and he blinked once or twice as his mind innocently pondered what was delaying their reaction time. He wandered over to the nearby Mary and peered at her, "Is there a problem with your hearing sensors?" he asked curiously.   
Mary gave a small squeak in surprise and backed off a little, a little uneasy, "Th-that's…"  
"Impossible…" Tryne gaped, stooping like an old man, "Our best robots don't learn that quickly! Never!"  
Miss Maquin smiled at Doctor Cain thankfully, "It looks like you were right, Doctor Cain."  
"In all honesty, I never knew it would work that well." Cain blinked.  
"Can I play now?" X asked.  
"Well, certainly."

Setting up and programming the games, X was sat down and allowed to explore on his merry way through the various games. Cain had noted that X seemed a little surer in his steps now, and his systems were probably well calibrated by now. He might need a bit more training on more complex exercises to help general nimbleness, but for now, the scientists had nothing to fear about smashed tables.  
"Cain?"  
"Yes?"  
X was curiously looking at a holographic chess set sitting in front of him, looking at the controls, "What does '2-player' mean?"  
Cain blinked, and then gave a grin, "Means I can play as well. Want to have a match?"  
X's face brightened, "Okay…!"

-  
  


Miss Maquin gave a disdainful snort at she watched the two of them through the glass viewer in the door, before moving off down the hall, Tryne obediently following her.  
"He's become so maternally attached to it. How trite." She mused to herself darkly.  
Tryne knew better than to comment.  
"In any case, how is the analysis of the readings so far?"  
"Going well ma'am. We need to do some more sessions of further scanning, but we've amassed quite a lot of information already, and…"  
"Do you have some files for me?"  
"Y-yes ma'am." Tryne nodded, passing to her a data-pad. She flipped through it as she walked towards her office, eyebrows steadily rising, along with a rather disconcerting grin.  
"Amazing. Not surprisingly…" she said to herself, laughing softly, "Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. This will change everything."  
Tryne said nothing, as he simply stared at her back as they walked down the hallway.


	3. Chapter 3: Two dogs fighting over a bone

=============================  
Chapter 3: Two dogs fighting over a bone.  
=============================

It was the beginning of the next week when Cain shuffled his way down the corridors of the labs, yawning from his early start this morning. The entire team had been very busy in scanning, training, and educating X, who seemed more human every passing day. A bit on the childishly curious and naïve side, but he was a far cry from the blank-faced robot a mere few days ago. For some reason, Miss Maquin was oddly pushy about the entire project, but he posted it down as excitement, and turned his thoughts to other things.

He moved towards a small lounge to finally heed the call of his disgruntled stomach, opening the door and being rather surprised to see X there, contently scanning a data-book as he sat at a metal table. The robot's vast thirst for knowledge was finally being filled with lectures on world subjects, like history, economics, social sciences, and X absorbed it all with such efficiency he seemed almost delighted in learning such things. Almost thankfully, X wasn't so 'outgoing' in exploring anymore, knowing that someone would guide him soon enough. But because the doctors, busy as they were, could not keep up with his vast curiosity, he had already caused a few mishaps that had issued the immediate policy that X would not be left unattended with any fascinating objects nearby. Or simply, never be let out of anyone's sight, ever.

"Good morning, X."  
X looked up from his data-book and smiled, "Good morning, Cain."  
Cain gently eased himself into a chair opposite X at the metal table, "Don't need to be so formal, you know."  
"I know. But I think it's more sincere if I say the whole phrase." X informed.  
"Fair enough. So, what's that you're poking your nose into?" Cain asked, arching his eyebrows quizzically at the book X was holding.  
"Oh, after I learned about Najan history, Doctor Rossi gave me 'extra reading' for me to complete in my own time," X held up the data-book, "This one focuses on the 2007 economic collapse after the Iluysian/Najan war."  
"Ah, yes, 'remember learning that in school. Always enjoyed history too." Cain recalled wistfully.  
"I find it interesting, especially since the economy and damage was rebuilt by a revolution in robotics, originally started by Doctor de Verne. Only four years after that, Doctor Light and Doctor Wily created the first bioroid, codenamed 'Protoman'. Three years later, they created Rock and Roll."  
Cain perked an eyebrow at X's fascination, giving a shrewd look, "Ah, but you interested in the ol' economic collapse, or what lead to the creation of Mega Man?"  
X's eyes widened in surprise, as if he'd never considered that. His brow furrowed as he digested the question, "…I never thought of that," he admitted honestly, "But I guess, I want to know about the original Mega Man. Even though I have a vastly different design he is still my…precursor in a sense. I also want to learn about Doctor Light."  
"Why such curiosity?" Cain asked.  
"All robots have a creator, and all humans have a father. Everyone knows the person who created him or her. But I do not know anything about Doctor Light. Like why he created me, and what purpose did he intend for me? And what happened to him?"  
"Perfectly understandable, I do suppose," Cain nodded sagely, "It doesn't bother you, does it?"  
"While I'm curious, I'm not upset by not knowing that." X replied frankly.  
Cain gave a somewhat troubled frown, but he waved it off as he decided to drop the subject for now, "Just were is that young lad Tryne? I thought you had some sort of physical tests this morning."  
"I had a small routine check at 0647 hours, and led me here for some food. He read the newspad, then seemed to get upset and excused himself."  
"Really?" Cain inquired, before snatching up the holo-newspad and scanning the headline.

[Deadly accident in Light Industries; two scientists died after an experimental robot malfunctioned and caused an explosion, killing both instantly. While the accident is under investigation, CEO of Light Industries assures there is no lack in safety and will personally investigate the cause. However, some authorities are suspicious upon how much a small generator malfunctioned in such a violent way, especially with limits on the size and power of generators…]

"Well, that's odd. I never heard of that. Hm…might have rattled him a bit, that's all. Might be best not to ask him about it for now."  
"Okay."  
"Righto, then," Cain acknowledged, getting up from the table, "If you'll excuse me for a moment, I'll get some coffee."  
"Of course." X smiled cordially.

Cain moved over to the vending machine upon the wall, selecting his preferences and watching as the machine combined them together into a coffee mug, which it presented to Doctor Cain with a small musical chime. The old man picked it up and gave a cautious sip, giving a small choked wheeze afterwards, "E**gad**, this coffee is strong!"  
"Strong?" X echoed in confusion.  
"Well, naturally," Tryne stated as he moved into the room, quiet posture marred by obvious fatigue with rings under his eyes, "You're in a robotic's lab – we've become insomniacs by caffeine nature."  
"Ah, yes, my mistake," Cain drawled sarcastically with a grin, transporting his coffee to the table and sitting back down, "I'm sure you'll all die young from heart failure."  
"Mm, more likely I'll die from over-clocking my brain. Or the crap food they serve here. I'm doomed, really." Tryne mused dismally, creating his own coffee, albeit much more strong.  
X watched him silently, not saying anything as he absorbed the information on Tryne's strange behaviour and tried to access what they were talking about. He intently watched Tryne plop down next to Cain, throwing back his chin and practically swallowing all his coffee in one breath, slamming the mug onto the table with relish, "Where would I be without this holy liquid?" he sighed contentedly.   
"Asleep on the floor?" Cain offered wryly, and the younger doctor gave a disgruntled snort.  
"More like I'd failed college and be serving chips right about now," he looked up, and saw X, "And it seems we're confusing the heck out of poor X here."  
"Sorry about that X! We're crazy old coots." Cain sang merrily.  
"Speak for yourself." Tryne muttered.  
"I'm curious on what this 'coffee' substance is." X explained, eyeing the coffee mugs closely.  
"Let me field this one," Tryne smiled smugly, "See, X, this stuff called coffee, mixed in with a few flavourings like milk and sugar, is something we doctors drink a lot. Because it has a wonderful chemical called 'caffeine', which helps the human body stay awake longer than normal. And we doctors have to do a lot of work in a day, so coffee is the way we keep ourselves conscious long enough to fulfil those blasted deadlines." Tryne explained most cheerily, almost enjoying himself in explaining the wonder drink he adored so much.  
X easily absorbed this information, "So…this 'caffeine' allows your body to sustain itself longer without sleep, in order to complete a large workload. Right?"   
"Exactly!"  
"But if the human body goes without sleep, doesn't it experience functionality problems?"  
Tryne frowned a bit at that, almost sulkily, "Yes, caffeine has its drawbacks, and it's not only the fact it only got a limited effect, but it doesn't do my body a great amount of good."  
"Then would the solution to this problem be to consume less caffeine?"  
"Sadly, no. Like I said, I **need** coffee to get my work done. For example, this mug now allows me to keep working on the 'X project' – speaking of which, we gotta get going."

-  
  


Tryne stepped up to the podium in a large conference room, facing eight executives of Light Industries, sitting around a replicated oak wood table and adorned with the same diplomatic freshness of their power suits. It wasn't unlike any other time Tryne had to give a report on a high-profile project he was working on, but seeing as these meetings were largely for deciding how profitable the project would be, he felt uneasy. In any case, he cleared his throat and nodded respectfully to them all. Miss Maquin coolly leaned back in her chair, "Do begin, Doctor."  
Tryne nodded, "R-right, thank you ma'am. Over the past week, we've been analysing X's neural matrix, schematic structure, and his behaviour. It's been quite difficult, due to the amazing complexity of this robot, and new, revolutionary designs we've never fathomed before. Although some of X's core programming we might not be able to understand for the next few years, we do now mostly understand how he works."

The lights dimmed, and a headshot of X's face appeared on the large hologram screen at the head of the room, as well as a computer chip, "X's red crystal is not just for decoration; it's made of the glass-like substance crystanium, almost strong as a diamond. Underneath it is X's CPU – even though it's over a hundred years old, it's still as fast as the best super-computers today. Due to the fact X has free will and can develop in any way possible, it would be restricting to place a large number of programs inside his head – even the Three Laws of Robotics. The programs that he has that allow him to learn, make decisions, and emotions, were very simple at first. Actually, he seemed almost like a normal robot. However, his neural matrix can actually **re-write** itself to add in new data, experiences, and changes, depending on what happens to him. Everything that occurs shapes his mind and thusly how he acts. He can have outside influences. That's why his programming was so sparse then – because nothing much has happened to him yet. What X is, is a blank slate. All his programming is only a base from him to learn from."

"Furthermore," Tryne continued, "We can't breach his final layers of programming. He's got a few dozen, but the last three or so are insane. They're so obscenely complex and multifaceted that we or not even the computers can make any sense out of it. We think that maybe there might be some security coding woven in there, but his very core programming…we might not fully now how he works for the next few years."

"Inside X's CPU is Read-Only Memory, codes detailing personal information that cannot be changed once he's activated. We've dubbed it 'DNA data', due to the fact this is critical data for the robot to function and it would be needed if X had to be re-activated. It holds his personality traits, identification, logs on his schematics, so forth. A profile of him, if you will."

"As for his personality, he does not have a pre-programmed personality like the old robots one hundred years ago. There are no strict boundaries on how he acts – rather, he has personality traits…much like a human being. We can inherit traits like hot-headedness or docility, and that affects our behaviour, but our personality is not set. Our own experiences can change our personality and outlook on life. It's the same with X. As he got more experience, his personality grew into someone rather kind and good-natured."

"Moving on to his body schematics," Tryne continued, as an image of X's body appeared on the screen, "X works much alike to the original Mega Man in basic design, but there are major differences. His design is so efficient he is only 1'6 meters tall and weighs only 56 kilograms. However his armour is strong enough to deflect a powerful attack, even by his own mark-17 buster cannon, much higher than our cutting-edge model of mark-13."

"First thing is, that to give greater efficiency in moving energy around the body, energy from his internal fusion reactor is infused into a thick liquid, a circulatory fluid or blood, if you will. This is pumped through the body with a Regularity Pulse Pump – sort of like a heart."

"He also has Respiratory Intake Units, a pair of lungs, that helps cool down the body with air and allows his systems to release heat."

"He is powered on what we call a Organic Input Fusion Generator. With our current robot systems, robots can eat special foods for a quick energy boost to be burned up in the reactor. X is a bit different…he has a special separation device that removes all nutrients from the food – a stomach if you will. Waste gets burnt into the reactor, but amino acids, proteins, basic minerals, and water are separated and put to use. Water for fuel, vital fluids and lubricants, the rest so his body can regenerate itself."

"Those materials fuel a nano-machine store for self-repair for injuries and fight against disease – things like poisons, toxins, and rusts I believe."

"He also does not need a capsule to sleep. His systems can undergo an independent system maintenance dormancy period – sleep, in other words. Using a capsule will lessen the hours he needs to sleep, but without one he only needs five to seven hours, depending."

"That is a summary on what we've discovered so far about X." Tryne finished, followed by some applause.  
"Thank you, Tryne." Miss Maquin nodded, and Tryne stepped off the podium.  
"Can we see this robot? Just for a moment?" one of the executives asked.  
"I'm sure that's alright. Tryne?"  
"We figured you might want to meet him, so he's waiting right outside. I'll go get him," Tryne walked over to the door and stepped out for a moment, returning with X faithfully following him inside.  
X gave a greeting smile and bowed, "Hello. Nice to meet you all."  
Some of the executives were quite surprised on the sincereness of the gesture, although one or two held their scepticism. One raised a wry eyebrow, "How are you this morning, X?"  
"I'm quite good, today, thank you." X replied politely.  
"Really?"  
"Yeah. I had another physical test this morning, it was somewhat boring…" X explained somewhat poutishly, but then brightened, "But I was reading a history book on Najan history by myself in the lounge after that, so that's okay."  
Miss Maquin eyebrows rose at the word 'by myself', before discreetly giving Tryne a rather vengeful glare. Tryne felt sweat beading under his collar, and was glad everyone was too busy talking to X to notice.  
"And what other things do you like doing?"  
"I'm really good at chess," X said proudly, "I beat Cain all the time, and he's been playing it for years. Monopoly is fun too. And I listen to the radio a lot, too. I really like the song 'Neverwinter' by Roe Stan, but his other song 'Road to Everywhere' sucked."  
The executives held back laughs, "Why's that?"  
"Because he whines so much in that one. I don't know what went wrong with his voice, but I don't like it."  
"Where did you hear the word 'sucked'?" one executive asked curiously.  
X paused for a moment to think, "Um, Doctor Dane said that the salad they served on Monday sucked. It means something is bad or unlikable, right?"  
There was an amused grin, "Right."  
"Is everyone done?" Miss Maquin pressed. After she received affirmative answers, she continued, "Alright, we'll discuss the analysis findings in a few hours. Everyone, dismissed. Tryne…stay behind for a moment, please."  
Tryne swallowed thickly. The others soon left the room and he was left with Miss Maquin, who regarded with a deceptive level stare.  
"Doctor Tryne," the woman spoke solidly, her voice a purr teasing on a growl, "You left X unattended. You know the policy."  
"Yes ma'am." Tryne replied, quite determined in keeping his eyes anywhere else but the desk in front of him.  
"I do not care if X accidentally wrecks another computer with maple syrup. I **do** care, however, if X gets hurt in any shape or form. Nor allow any attention to be drawn to him. Do you understand? This is not some pet project Tryne."  
"Yes ma'am." Was the quiet answer.  
"You also know about our new project. With this 'summary of your findings' presented to the board, our project will be underway very soon. It won't be ruined by any one, understand?"  
"Yes ma'am."  
"**Anyone**. I believe two of your fellow scientists didn't take me seriously."  
Tryne didn't reply.  
"You are dismissed."  
The scientist quickly pivoted on his feet and made for the door as fast as he could without seeming to run for his life, to escape the horribly tense room. 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  


The ball made a loud smacking noise as it was bounced upon the floor, followed by the running of nimble feet as a blue figure darted across the court. A robot drone vectored in on the orange ball, trying to snatch the ball away before the blue figure weaved away, running up with a final jump. The ball sailed through the air in an effortless arc, rolling upon the rim. Three pairs of eyes watched anxiously as the ball circled on the rim, before finally wavering off and falling out of the hoop.  
X's expression moved into an annoyed pout, "Nuts."  
"Close though." Cain remarked.  
The drone X was playing against puttered forward and picked up the basketball from the ground, droning monotonously, "Score 10-7."  
"You're getting better at this, X. Don't worry about it." Tryne assured, before taking a sip of soda.  
X retrieved the ball and smiled, "Thanks for making this robot for me, Doctor Tryne. I couldn't practice without it."  
"No problem."

X started bouncing the ball again, the two scientists sitting at a small table off the court. It was an indoor basket-ball court on the ground-floor of Light Industries, so that scientists could get active and have recreation during their breaks. X was beginning to grow bored of the same labs he was always confined to, so Tryne suggested that X play basketball in the provided courts. X was happy, the scientists were happy, and so was Miss Maquin.

The drone was activated for another round, and the humans watched as X again tried to move the ball towards the hoop, X ready to launch the ball. However, the robot drone moved with a sudden burst of speed, smacking against X's head.

"Ouch, that was rough! What happened?" Cain remarked sharply, quickly standing to the fallen X.  
"I…it must have been a small motory glitch." Tryne replied quietly.  
"You alright, X?" Cain asked. A pause, and the question was re-asked in a more insistent tone, "X? X, what's the matter?"   
X was lying prone on the ground, and didn't reply. Cain began to shake the blue robot's shoulder, and it had no effect, "I think he's gone into stasis! But how did – " he lifted his head to the droid that was levitating nearby, a furrow appearing on his brow. A small arm was now extended under the droid, with a small device that looked something like a tazer.   
"Tryne, what's that odd appliance on the – "

"Gas!" Tryne yelped, as small metal canisters were suddenly flung into the room, spewing out light pink gas that rapidly blanketed the entire room.   
Cain stood wobbly, already feeling the effects of the gas as his vision began to blur, and could barely realize his calls for the younger scientist were his own. Tryne had vanished in the pink smoke, not heeding his calls. 

Blearily, Cain finally saw a group of people dressed in black, faces masked by goggles and gas filters. As they quickly advanced, and their military-esque apparel came into view, Cain raised his cane as threateningly as he could. 

The men ignored him, one stooping down to reach X. With a loud cry, Cain brought the cane down upon his head with unexpected force, "Y'leave 'im alone! I'll…let go 'ff me!"  
He wrestled with them with all his fading strength, landing a few vicious blows, but there was a sharp prick on his neck before all his senses all slowly faded away.

--  
  


"You said **what**?!" Miss Maquin shrieked, eyes ablaze in fury.  
The security chief seemed somewhat unfazed by her reaction, "We have just become aware that X, Doctor Tryne, and Doctor Cain are missing from basket-ball court #3. All security cameras have been tampered with, and no alarms have been deactivated. We believe a mole might be within this building that allowed this to occur."  
"Do you have any idea how or when they left?" Miss Maquin demanded.  
"No. It seems that the digital masking they used on our cameras were only temporary, as our security net would have detected it soon enough in any case. We only realized something went wrong when we saw the empty court filled with smoke."  
"Smoke?"  
"Type-88; a suppressant smoke used in covert operations. This was the work of professionals, ma'am."  
"Anything else?"  
A small swallow of hesitation, "The…the files that contained X's analysis…they're gone, ma'am."  
"…Gone?" she echoed blankly.  
"They've been corrupted beyond repair. We've lost almost all the data – the remaining is only a few test scores."  
Miss Maquin's face curled up in fury like burning paper, letting out a loud shriek of fury as her fist planted itself into her replicated wood desk, cracking a hefty crack. After a long moment she withdrew her hand, flexing it, before straightening up like nothing happened. She gave the disturbed security chief a level glare, "Is Operation B in effect?"  
"Yes ma'am, we're receiving the signal loud and clear without problems." He reported frankly.  
"Get your best forces and track it down. Get it back!"  
"Understood."

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
"Doctor Cain. Wake up, please."  


There was a long moment of patient silence as Cain's eyes cracked open, lazily blinking his eyes against the bright lights of the room. It was a light and dull gray, seeping blandness into the air under the harsh white lights, eliminating all shadow from the room. After curiously asking himself where his was, memories of the events that happened before slowly oozed into his brain, quickly snapping him awake. 

The man sitting across from him, eyes masked by a visor, smiled sardonically, "Nice to have you with us."  
"Who are you?" Cain demanded boldly, now completely awake, "Where have you taken X?"  
"Fair questions, Doctor, but they're quite irrelevant to you now. No one knows what happened to you, where you are, or how to find you. To them, you vanished off the face of the earth – a rather serious situation. I therefore recommended you comply." The man informed evenly.  
A dark look had settled into the lines of Cain's face, "So I co-operate with a bunch of thugs. How so very charming. Fine. What the hell do you want?"  
The man ignored the sharp edge to the question, "We're quite interested in how you acquired that robot called 'X'. We know you certainly didn't make it, nor did Light Industries. So, where did you find X?"  
"Why do you want to know?"  
"That answer is irrelevant. For your own safety, where did you find it?"  
Cain hesitated, "…In an abandoned lab in the middle of the desert. I took X out of there to be studied and educated, and haven't been back since."  
"You're trying to hide something, Doctor," the man noted, "What else did you find in the lab?"  
"Nothing but rubble and a few broken supplies." Was the clipped reply.  
"We don't believe so. We know Doctor Light created X, and you have proof of this because you took a recording from the abandoned lab. You wouldn't so have happened to retrieve this from a computer, would you? We know you have the means to transfer and read data from century old computers, you being an archeologist."  
Cain didn't immediately reply. Whoever informed these people certainly told a lot, and they certainly knew a lot about him. He could feel himself being wedged into a conversational corner, and decided to go for broke sooner rather than later.  
"You know I'm not going to just hand over that information without a fight," Cain glowered, "So what happens if I don't?"  
The man seemed mildly amused, "You're going for the direct tack, are you?"  
"Just answer the bloody question."  
"Sir, like I said, you are in a fragile situation. You are aging – it's not uncommon for people your age to have a small…accident. You were recently cured of a bad case of flu, which might be why you went to a desert in the first place – perhaps the harsh desert was too much on your weakened body."  
Cain lanced the other man with an offended glare, "I'm only 57, you rat. And Light Industries would testify that I – "  
"You can't count on them to save you," the man interrupted smoothly, "If they told the truth, they'd have to admit your kidnapping – and that would tarnish their reputation. They'd go along with the lie. But we haven't talked about X, yet."  
"What about X?" Cain asked quickly.  
"Heh. Even though X is a remarkable machine, he is still a robot – programmable, able to be manipulated. We can easily erase his memory and make him forget all about you. So you either happen upon an unfortunate fate, or…you can help us study X and prepare to duplicate his design."  
"You mean exploit him!"  
"Is that any different to what Light Industries is trying to do? Do you think they merely helped you study X from sheer curiosity? They have their own plans for X, no different from ours. Except they see X as their property – he's a product of Light. Light Industries and ourselves are no different."  
"You stole X, unless you forgot." Cain reminded snappily.  
"How is that worse than exploiting your trust and planning to snatch X from under your nose?"  
Cain didn't reply.  
"…You're a bit over-whelmed. Fine. You get a while to think this over. But maybe you should consider what's best for X."  
"Like you care." Cain snapped darkly.  
"Guards? Escort Cain to his cell, please."

Two men appeared through the door, clamping their large hands onto Cain's shoulders before they rudely hefted him up, and escorted him from the room. Cain gave a defiant wrestle against his escort, but it did little use. Instead, he snapped, "A technology industry has holding cells?"  
"That's none of your business." Rumbled one of the guards.  
"My foot it isn't."  
As they moved through the identical white corridors of the lab facility, Cain saw up ahead another prisoner being moved along by his own set of guards.  
"Tryne!" Cain gawked, "Are you alright?"  
"Mostly." Tryne replied dully as they approached.  
"Where are they taking you?" Cain demanded, ignoring the ugly glare his escort was giving him.  
"I don't know. Don't worry, I'll be fine." Tryne reassured quietly.  
"If they interrogate you, don't tell them anything!" Cain cried, as he was wrestled away, "Don't help them!"  
Tryne only stared apathetically, "I won't."  
The two scientists were finally led away down the corridors, becoming lost in the massive facility.

--  
  


X lay quietly on the table, basked in a bright glow from the fluorescent lights throughout the scanning lab, surrounded by an array of testing and analysis equipment blithely churning away. The lab was a light dull grey just like the rest of the facility, the entire complex giving the mood of bland clinicalness. Wires and sensors were being placed all over his body, until the funny tickling sensation finally brought him back to consciousness.  
The current scientist standing over him reared back in surprise, watching in numb horror as the robot that was formerly in stasis was now looking at his surroundings with a surge of panic. X reflexively tried to sit up, suddenly becoming aware of thick restraints over his arms and legs.  
"Doctor McCarran, the subject has activated!" was the cry of alarm.  
"Who are you? Where am I?" X asked anxiously, unknowing why a sense of dread was now forming deep within his chassis.  
"What??" McCarran growled, sailing across the lab, "Impossible. Was there some sort of power spike?"  
"I have no idea, sir…"  
"What are you doing?" X asked again.  
"A test. Now stay still." McCarran ordered, and X rather meekly shut up. After all, he'd done these tests before and nothing bad happened – on the other hand, he was never tied to a table whilst doing so.  
A sudden thought came to mind, "Where's Cain?"  
"Who?" said the first scientist.  
"Doctor Cain. Where is he?"  
"He's busy." McCarran said.  
"Doing what? He's usually always here for my tests. What are you doing anyway? I thought I'd done all my tests." X said bemusedly.  
"We, uh…have to do some more tests." Said the first scientist feebly.  
"Huh?"  
"For the love of Primus, shut up, will you?" McCarran snapped, "Damn it all, he should have retrieved that data instead of ruining it all, to spare us this."  
"But I just want to know – "  
McCarran reached over to a small tray of equipment and tore a strip off a roll, before applying it over X's mouth. The industrial sealing tape dutifully sealed X's mouth shut, much to his muffled protest.  
"We can't waste any more time. If we use another EMP pulse to shut him down, then it'll ruin the test results, and we've got to get started before Light Industries catches on. Doctor Sonora, Start prepping for the test."  
"You mean the internal examination?"  
"Yes."  
"We might have to remove some parts, sir. Shouldn't we put the robot in stasis?"  
"Robots have reflex reactions – they don't feel pain. It probably went through this before at Light Industries."  
Sonora didn't give X another glance, "Yes sir."

Activating a holo-panel, the scientist activated a large mechanism above the table, an ominous half dome that was sectioned into twelve slices. A section opened, and a probe extended out of the dome and hovered over X's chest. At the command, the probe searched for the activation site for the chest cavity before touching it, X's chest giving a tiny hiss as the cavity opened. Craning his neck forward, X watched in nothing short of pure horror as he caught a glimpse of his insides working away inside him. McCarran pulled down another tool from the dome, probing along X's mechanisms and Sonora pulled down the scanner.

McCarran made an interested tone, "Fascinating. Look what's been done with his generator!"  
"Mff!" X yelped when he poked something.  
"Hm?" Sonora blinked.  
McCarran didn't look up, "Just a reflexive reaction. Hmm…can't see this particular device…we might have to remove some of this. Warm up the cutting laser."  
X stared in terror as a large laser above began to warm up, emitting a shrieking hum as it burned white-hot, locking-on to co-ordinates in X's chest. The scientists didn't seem to notice X's struggles with his bonds.

There was a long shudder through-out the room, and the lights suddenly snapped off, the emergency lights lighting the room in a deep red. The laser, poised ominously above X's chest, gave a long whine before it abruptly shut off.

"What!? What happened!? Where's the power gone??" McCarran growled.  
Sonora looked around in panic, "Perhaps a power failure – eek!"  
X gave a jerk of massive effort, ripped his right arm free of his bonds. He snatched the laser, and redirected it to his other metal bonds.  
"Wh-what is he **doing**!?" Sonora shrieked in confusion, horrified at the robot's behavior.  
"Quick, call security!" McCarran barked, before making a lunge for X. X quickly rolled off the table under his arms, falling on his backside for a moment before jumping up and bolting out the door, running as fast as his terrified body could take him.  
McCarran seethed, "Call security, dammit!"  
"I **can't**! I can't contact them! All the lines are down!" Sonora cried.  
"Then sound the alarm!"  
"…It's not working! The whole security system is refusing commands!"  
"What!? That's impossible, we've got a state-of-the-art defense grid! What in Primus is going on…!?"  
"I-I don't…"  
"Come on, we've got to find him!"

--  
  


Mere moments ago, Cain was sulkily sitting in a small holding cell, slouched on a small chair at the back of the room. He blinked sleepily when he thought he felt a small vibration before apathetically dismissing it, just as a large explosion ripped through the immediate area.

Now, he was crouched on the floor, warily clasping his head as the room around him rumbled and cracked from the explosion, sending fine dust into the air. There was a beeping noise outside the re-enforced metal door, and with a muffled bang it snapped off its hinges with a burst of force, slamming onto the ground.

Cain suspiciously watched the black-suited troops as they moved inside, "Well, hello to you too."  
"Doctor Cain, it's nice to see you're alive and well." One of them said.  
"Yes, I agree. Who are you?"  
"We're a security team from Light Industries to rescue you," was the frank reply, "We assumed you'd be in the holding cells, but unfortunately, we can't find X or Tryne."  
"What!?" Cain gasped, snapping to his feet, "Then bloody well find out!"  
"We will. For now, please come with us."  
"Where to now?"  
"X is lost within the facility. We're going to find him."

--  
  


"Well, this sucks." Tryne declared to himself, sitting in an empty and half-lit lab. After the explosions, most of the lights had toned down to green emergency lighting, all machinery and systems shut down, the entire lab dark and eerily silent.

Tryne looked up and cast an eye at the security light up on the ceiling – it wasn't going off, nor were the other alarms. Considering those explosions, the entire underground lab should be on alert, not just sitting in dark silence. Unless those explosions somehow disabled the security centre…

A sudden shuffle outside the door made him jerk to attention, as a dark-suited operative slowly opened the door. Tryne dived under a table, barely missing the operative's searchlight as it swept the room as he slowly entered the room, searching the area for any personnel that had yet to be neutralized. Crouching under the table, Tryne reached into the pocket of his lab coat and got out a small stun gun, peering under the table to watch the man's feet slowly come towards him. The man certainly wasn't a member of this lab, and after the explosions it was wise to take precautions. Once he was in range Tryne pressed the gun to his leg, wincing as the man shuddered and hit the floor with a solid thump.

After a long pause to check the man was really unconscious, Tryne crawled out his hiding place and rolled the man over. He frowned; some sort of military fatigues and apparently armed with guns currently set to stun, as well as – 

Tryne's eyes widened.

On the man's left breast was the symbol of the Light Industries Security Unit, and Tryne felt like he was going to be quite violently sick. Snapping out of his stupor, he quickly searched the man until he produced a small palm computer. Switching it on, he stared in horror at the screen as he finally realized how this man got here – a single glowing blue dot was slowly moving along across the screen.

"Maquin, you bitch. I never thought you'd sink that low."

Grabbing the man's weapons and keycards, and shedding his own lab coat, Tryne stood up and fled the lab, following the directions on the palm computer.


	4. Chapter 4: Deceit and Lies

=============================  
Chapter 4: Deceit and Lies  
=============================

X's feet shuffled quietly in the stillness, as he moved through the silent and empty corridors that twisted and turned like an endless maze. He had never been in a place so quiet before, and curiosity drove him like a steam train through the area, but he noted to himself he didn't like the silence very much. He was also confused on why it was so empty – he'd never actually been alone before.

"Hello?" he called, the word echoing off the walls. In hearing an 'answer', he replied, "Is someone there? Where are you? …No, where are **you**?"

By this point his vast archive of intelligence finally realized the 'answers' he was hearing was only his own words being reflected off the walls, and now felt rather disappointed in his irrational behavior. Or, 'feeling silly', as Cain said once. 

Nonetheless he moved on, becoming more lost as he moved along, but he was finally happy he finally found someone lying on the floor inside a maintenance room. He knelt down and smiled, "Hello."

Oddly enough, he received no answer this time.

"Hello?" he asked, before wondering if this human was sleeping. He gave the person an experimental poke with his finger, but the human didn't move.

Sniffing the air, X gave a reflexive frown, as he smelt a bittersweet smell, somehow connected with a small ball emitting green smoke. X picked it up and poked at it, until the smoke eventually went away. The robot fiddled with it a little, found it only to be a black ball with small holes in it, and placed it back on the floor.

He tried talking to the human again, "Excuse me, but can you help me find Doctor Cain? …Is something wrong?"

The human only twitched. X just blinked in confusion.

"X?"

X's head perked up, his hearing picking up the quiet call down the corridor.

"X? Where are you, m'boy?"

"Cain!" X exclaimed, springing to his feet and rushing towards the door, almost bowling the old man over when he finally ran into him literally.  
"Wah! Careful, X, you could take out an eye like that."  
"Sorry."  
"Are you alright?" Cain asked quickly.  
An unsettled look appeared on X's face, "I'm fine, but some scientists put me on an table and tried to cut me with a laser."  
Cain frowned darkly, "Well, worry not, because we're getting out of this stink-hole and some where safe where there are no crazy people with lasers."   
"How true," remarked an operative dryly, as she moved into the room, "I'm afraid we simply can't take you back to the lab, X; we're to take you to a more secure facility. Shall we?"  
"Wait a minute," Cain said, turning around, "What do you mean, 'secure facility'?"  
"Light Industries has access to certain top-secret labs where we may safely carry on our more…important projects." The operative explained.  
"X was only a observational study, not a development project." Cain reminded the operative.  
X frowned, "Can we go back to the lab? I don't like it here."  
"See? X is tired and upset, so let's – "  
"**Doctor Cain**," the operative interrupted sharply, "Are you not aware on what's just happened? Ogani Tech has stolen X from under your nose – this is one of their facilities. Thanks to a mole in our personnel, our business rival managed to steal him away from us. He is simply too valuable to allow to escape."  
While X just looked confused, a look of horror was slowly growing on Cain's face, "What do you mean, 'we'?" he asked, the interrogation still fresh in his mind, "What are you planning to do with X?"  
The operative cocked his head in mock curiosity, "Are you telling me that you only planned to study X, a robotic revolution, and simply leave it at that? A robot that could change the world as we know it?"  
"Dear Primus, that man was right," Cain gaped, "You are planning on copying his design and selling it, aren't you?"  
"What do you expect?"  
"L…leave me alone." X said, suddenly becoming concerned about these 'plans' for him.  
"You, X, be quiet."  
"No!" X replied, "Cain said – "  
"In a moment what Cain says won't matter," said the operative sighed, pulling out a dart gun.  
"And what's in that? Poison?" Cain snapped.  
"Oxygen actually."  
Cain gave a cock-eyed look.  
The operative sighed, "When a dart of oxygen is pumped into the blood-stream, the air-bubbles disrupt the blood-flow within the heart, causing a sudden heart attack. And, when the police research your files, they'll suddenly discover your family has a history of a genetic heart disease. The oxygen is absorbed into the body, leaving no trace."  
Cain lanced the operative with a furious glare, "Next I see Miss Maquin, I'll – "  
"You'll what?" the operative said, reaching up and pulling off her mask.  
"Miss Maquin!" X gasped.  
"Indeed!" she smiled smugly, "I'd never let Ogani Tech steal a Light invention while I'm still in charge. Understand this, Cain – X is a legacy of Doctor Light, and by rights he belongs to this company! If you wish to play along, I don't mind at all…but if you refuse, you won't live to regret it. Your choice. Stay with X, or fail in the pitiful attempt to do otherwise."  
"You…!"  
"Do what's best for X, Cain. If things, go well, we won't have to erase his memory."  
X's eyes flew open in, terrified for his life for the first time, knowing full well what a memory wipe was.  
"Well?"  
"…I…" Cain fumbled numbly, desperately trying to figure out a way out of this situation, instincts screaming at him to protect X at all costs, but his mind curtly reminded him of that dart now pointed ominously at his chest. Finally, a nasty little voice in the back of his mind sneered at him for being a naïve idiot.

Meanwhile, X suddenly blinked, looking upwards as he noticed an odd shiny red dot hovering above Miss Maquin's head, seeming to be centering on a joint in the piping above them. Miss Maquin, growing annoyed at Cain indecision, noticed X and followed his line of sight above her.

She only had one moment to realize what it was before the gun went off, puncturing the pipeline and dousing her with a steady flood of pressured hot steam. She gave a long shriek of shock and pain, desperately trying to cover her head as she crumpled to the ground. Thick steam rapidly rolled through the room.

Tryne bolted in from the doorway, wincing through the steam, "X! Cain! C'mon, hurry up! We gotta get outta here!"  
"No arguments here! C'mon, X!" Cain replied, bringing X along with him as they left the room.  
"You … **you get back here**!!" Miss Maquin screeched, trying to pick her dart gun back off the ground.  
"No." X replied firmly, and quickly followed out the door.  
Tryne reached into his pocket and got out a red keycard, shutting the door and neatly sliding the keycard through a slot. Panel by the door glowed red as it gave a loud click, locking the door.  
"That'll hold her for a while." Tryne exhaled.  
"Tryne, I wondered what happened to you!" Cain said.  
"Same here," Tryne replied, "You okay, X?"  
"Yeah!"  
"Good. I think we should go – she'll be sending operatives after us any moment now," Tryne said, pulling out his palm computer, "I'd never believe that she'd try to kill you Cain. I never thought…she'd go that far."  
"Neither did I." Cain agreed darkly.  
"What do we do now?" X asked.  
Tryne paused for a long moment, "Well…get you out of here, I guess. Miss Maquin has used her security to take over this facility and it's a matter of time until she radios her operatives to hunt us down. We could go to the cargo bay – most of the security is automated there and the security center is shut down for now. It should be easy enough to steal a van and escape."  
"How do you know all that?" X asked.  
Tryne looked sharply down at his computer, "This thing I stole from a guard has the layout of this facility in it."  
"But how do you know the security is automated and the security is shut down?"  
"Because most cargo bays are automated and the fact there aren't a million sirens going off implies that the security center is either captured or disabled," Tryne snapped, "Now come on, we don't have much time."

He began running at a curt jog down the corridor, and after sharing a confused glance his companions followed after him, moving through the wing of the facility towards the cargo bays. Tryne lead them through the maze at a fast pace, left through to the end, then right, second left, and then another right. The security lights were still on, the complex silent as it gave them no opposition as they moved towards their destination that seemed to be the cargo and storage areas.

X was still scared and confused about what was happening – even with his impressive intelligence, he was simply too naïve to fully understand what was going on. His hand lightly gripped the crook of Cain's elbow, looking warily around. Cain however, was focusing accusing eyes on the back on Tryne's head, a feeling of distrust slowly bringing ideas to light.

"Tryne…where exactly were you all this time?" Cain asked, eyes narrowing slightly.  
"Um…in interrogation. They wanted me to tell them what I knew about the project back at Light Industries, and wanted to force me into helping them." Tryne replied distantly, trying to lead them through the complex.  
"How did you escape?"  
"…I've got a gun and a stunner on me. You know – never hurts to be careful."  
"Of what?" X asked.  
"Of things that might happen."  
"You keep them on you all the time?"  
"Yes, it's quite odd that security never thought to search you, isn't it?" Cain asked slyly, "You know, Miss Maquin did inform me that a mole in their personnel leaked information to this facility, certain information only people working on X's project would know. After all, these people would only be interested in someone who knew all about X, the scanning data, entry codes, even where X so happened to be at the time, and place a means to knock X out…"  
Tryne slowly came to a stop. There was a long moment of silence before he quietly turned around, switching his gaze between the accusing and inquiring gaze of his company. He gave a sigh of defeat.  
"…I didn't know." He admitted quietly.  
"Know what?" X interjected, cutting off what Cain was about to remark.  
"That Miss Maquin would kill you. I knew that she was ruthless about competitors but I never dreamed she would try to kill you…Cain…I'm sorr – ack!" Tryne yelped, as Cain whipped his cane in a fine arc and cracked it over his head.  
"Let me get this straight," Cain growled, squinting accusing eyes, "You betrayed your employers, lied to us, gave them the means to kidnap us, and pass X over to them like he's nothing but a toy, using the both of us as pawns in some rivalry…and you're surprised after all that someone would whip out a gun? Egad, man, I never thought you were that outright stupid!"  
"I didn't think she'd kill you! You're a civilian! I knew she terminated competitors and her own scientists but not you. Either of you. I just…" Tryne trailed off.  
"Who did she… 'terminate'?" Cain asked.  
"You know that Vice-CEO of Argan Technologies, who died in that car accident? That was no accident. She's so frustrated about the restrictions on robotics she even makes illegal robotics for people's wars. She bribed, sabotaged, ruined, or killed any one who got in her way. Anyone. Even her own scientists…" Tryne gave a heavy sigh, "My friend died because he had ethical problems in a project. Ever since then, I started collecting and leaking information."  
"For revenge?" Cain asked.  
"Yeah, so she couldn't get the profit of it. But then I started major ties with this group, and I agreed to join their company if I…"  
"Gave them a dowry of sorts?"  
"Dowry??" X echoed.  
"An exchange, yeah. But when X came along, I knew Miss Maquin would do anything to get her hands on X and use him however she wanted. I could never let her get that sort of opportunity after everything she's done."  
"But, Tryne…" X said, "These people are bad too. The scientists at Light Industries were really nice to me, but here they tied me to a table and tried to hurt me. And they 'kidnapped' us all. Not all laboratories are like this, are they?"  
Tryne sighed, "Pretty much. The robotics industry is in a rut – with the restrictions in place, no one can make much of anything. Before the Wily Wars, people were reaching for the stars in new robotic technology, but then the Wily Wars happened. So now we have a huge potential market in robotics, but no legal way to use them. And…X, I'm sorry they tried to hurt you. I honestly didn't think they'd try to analyze you so soon; I was going to be the overseer of the project. But I thought Miss Maquin was worse," he paused, "I understand if you both hate me. That's fine because I deserve it."  
"Well, when those bad scientists tried to hurt me, I ran away," X reasoned, "You did that too."  
Tryne looked at X for a long moment, speechless.  
"You should have told the police, though. They stop bad people."  
"…Yeah. I should have. I didn't…" Tryne looked away for a moment, "No you're right, I shouldn't have run away – I should've done something. Oh dammit, I've screwed everything."  
"No, you made some bad choices. X's right, I can understand your reasoning. We can sort out everything else later." Cain dismissed, but his tone was lighter than before.  
Tryne offered a weak smile, "Okay. Well, come on…we've wasted time. Miss Maquin might be mobilizing operatives this way right now."  
"We're almost there though, right?" X asked.  
"Yeah," Tryne replied, leaning them down the corridor again, "Just down here. It's the cargo hold, like I said, so we just grab a van and go."  
"Sounds good," Cain smiled, "It'll take her a good while to find us.",br Tryne went up to a large security door and used the manual opening latch, "Well actually – "

**Alert. Intruders found. Present ID or be forcefully removed.**

"What's that?" X asked.

Wobbly hovering in the middle of the large cargo warehouse was a tall, wiry robot, giving small shudders as it sprayed small bursts of sparks. Mounted on an upturned half-dome, a long triangular torso stretched up, capped with a small cylinder head. Curving arms like scythes were perched in from of it, armed at each end with lasers and gravitational pulsars. It was charred black in places, and a strew of wires hung lazily from holes in the torso and arms. The warning it voiced was slurred and hoarse.  
"Don't make any sudden moments." Tryne hissed quietly, rooted to the floor in horror.  
"Hmm. Not good." Cain remarked.  
"It looks broken." X noted.  
"Maybe the operatives damaged it and took it out." Cain whispered out.  
Tryne gritted his teeth, "She's probably re-activated it through the security grid to stop us."  
"Is that robot going to hurt us?" X asked.  
"Probably not you, X. Miss Maquin wants you intact. Me and Cain aren't so lucky."  
"Think those lasers are functioning?"  
"You want to find out??"

**Repeat: present ID or be forcefully removed.**

Tryne sharply looked around the area. Large crates full of robotic parts were slotted in the walls right up to the ceiling, the retrieving crane resting off in a far-off corner. Large crates were still loaded onto hover-transports, lined up neatly near the crane. The door, and the garage beyond it, was on the opposite site of room, directly behind the robot.  
"Alright gentlemen, when I say so, we run towards those hover-transports over on the left there, and use them as cover. The hover-generator on this thing looks damaged, so maybe it won't be able to move very quickly. Then we can make a break for the exit." Tryne said.  
"Sadly, I have no better ideas. Guess we have no choice."  
"Ready X?"  
"I run over there?"  
"Yeah. Just pretend you're on the treadmill at level 9."  
"Oh, okay."

**Final warning.**

Tryne gritted his teeth, "Ready guys?"  
"Yup!"  
"As I'll ever be."

**Removing intruders.**

"**Run for it**!" Tryne cried, and the three bolted from their position just as a laser scotched the area they were moments before. The robot's scanners tracked them as they moved across the room, turning at an excruciating pace before slowly moving after them, trying to get into range. The trio hid behind the sparse amount of room behind the hover-transports and the wall, the robot hovering outside like a malevolent hornet, trying to find a way to get a clear shot without damaging property.

"Tryne, would you so happen to have a gun?" Cain hissed.  
"That would do any good against that? I wish." Tryne bleakly replied.  
X peered at the robot as it swarmed past, "What's it doing?"  
"Trying to get a clear shot at us, I thi – "

The robot let off a peppering of shots down the small space between the transports, pink lasers slicing the air around them, hissing black marks into the wall. A small pause, before the shots were peppered off again.

"Well, damn it!" Tryne cried.  
"I guess it figures that if it can't hit us, it can still pin us down." Cain reasoned grimly.  
Tryne snorted, "Buying time for Miss Maquin to get us. Yay."  
"Cain?"  
"Yes, X?" Cain replied, flinching away from a shot.  
"I have a buster in my arm, don't I?"  
The two scientists looked at each other in surprise, never realizing that possibility.  
X frowned hard in concentration, before a sudden long click came from his arm, his hand vanishing into his forearm. Replacing it was the short muzzle of a buster, settling in with a click. X peered at it with honest astonishment, "Wow."  
"Well that's good and all, but what now? You can't shoot at it right now!" Tryne said.  
"Naw, we need to draw its attention away, that's all. Particularly someone with good running legs." Cain said, before giving Tryne a long sideways look.  
"You have good running legs, Tryne? Wow." X remarked.  
"**Me**??" Tryne balked, "Why me?"  
"Long running legs, whipper-snapper," Cain grinned, "Besides, that thing can't turn if its life depended on it. You just need to draw its fire so X can shoot it."  
Tryne gave a long hesitant grimace before rolling his eyes in defeat, "Fine. I got us into this so it's my turn to get us out of it. I can make it."  
"Good. X? Ready to get out of here?"  
X nodded firmly.  
"I don't believe I'm doing this…"

**Target sighted. Removing.**

"Yeah, right…!" Tryne squeaked, running a solid pace along the wall, as the robot slowly moved towards him. X moved over to the edge of the transport units, his palm supporting his buster, tongue poking out in effort as he tried to aim at the robot. The robot was beginning to turn at an excruciating pace, long arms moving in a wide arc as it tried to lock them onto the moving target.  
Cain shuffled up quietly behind X, "Okay, X, remember those basketball lessons? What's the first rule?"  
"Aim carefully for the hoop." X replied.  
"Yup, it's just like that – just aim for his big ol' chest there."  
"Okay I got it." X nodded. 

Unfortunately, basketball hoops don't move, and X was having some trouble aiming at the weaving and thin robot, buster bobbing side-to-side Tryne ducked his head as the first laser shot above his head, a wild spray of pink lights showering over him as he ran desperately along the wall. He was only meters away from the crane as the robot finally finished it's full turn and began locking onto him. Tryne hit the floor, covering his head as the laser hissed the wall where his head was moments before. The robot held still for only a moment as it began to fire -- 

X let off the shot with lightning fast robot reflexes, recognizing the perfect moment where the robot held still just long enough for him to shoot it. The robot snapped back sharply, as the white-hot plasma easily ate through the already scorched armor plating, creating a large gaping hole as it shot right through the other side. The robot shrieked and sparked as it collapsed in a mangled heap on the ground, mere feet away from where Tryne was lying.

There was a long moment as the two humans craned their heads in morbid curiosity at the mangled robot, jaws slightly open at the amount of damage X somehow managed to pull off with utmost ease. Not even a high-powered plasma shotgun could cause that much damage.  
X broke the silence by asking, "Did I break it?"  
"Yeah…you did." Tryne nodded slowly, struggling to his feet.

Cain cleared his throat, "Well, now, I think we'd better get going and quick."  
"Right," Tryne agreed, pulling out another keycard, "Just beyond here is the vehicle depot."  
"Did I do something again?" X asked.  
Cain blinked, "Do something?"  
"You and the scientists looked at me funny like that before." X said.  
"Well, uh, you just did something…amazing!" Cain said, gesturing to the robot, "That's something very impressive!"  
"Really?" X said, a note of pride flowing into his voice.  
"Um, guys?" Tryne called, "We have a problem – the door is locked down."  
"But you have the keycard right there." Cain noted.  
"I know, but it's under a special security lock that you use to lock down the whole wing of the facility. If they did that, then they couldn't get in to get us."

"Oh, but I was here for a while."

The trio sharply turned around and gaped in horror at the woman who was standing against the opposite door, holding a gun in her hand, with her dart gun in the other. Her hair was a mess of twisted wet hair sticking to her face, which was red and raw from the hot steam, water dripping off her body. Her expression was contorted into a malicious sneer, "Look what you **did**, you insubordinate bastard!"  
With that she fired off a shot, Tryne letting out a shriek of pain as it connected with his leg and collapsed to the floor.  
"Tryne!" Cain called in horror.  
"Oh there you are, Doctor Cain," Miss Maquin smiled mockingly, walking over somewhat stiffly, "Do try not running away again."  
"How did you know we where here?" X asked, arm still in buster mode.  
Miss Maquin replied with a small barking laugh, "Operation B. When I realized the full extent of your abilities, X, I knew you were too precious to allow escaping, especially with your growing wishes to be let outside. Therefore I had a little tracker installed into you that's tracked by a satellite in orbit. There's literally nowhere you can hide from me. When you were kidnapped, it was a simple matter of following you here with our tracking systems."  
"Thank you for your trust, ma'am." Cain snorted.  
"Trust? Trust an old archeologist with a technological marvel like X? You must be kidding."  
X frowned, "I…I'm not …"  
"Shut up, X. You won't remember any of this, anyway when I get you back in my possession. Cain, my old acquaintance, you should be glad I'm giving you one last chance to save your miserable life," she readied her dart gun again, "You sign on with me, or they'll never find a hair of you again."  
"Sign X over to you!? After everything you've done!?" Cain roared back, "After bugging X and shooting people!? Are you mad?"  
"Merely business-driven, my friend. Light Industries was founded by a genius and was the best in robot technology, and it'll stay that way. I'll personally see to it that it stays that way, and my great-uncle has given me the means to change society. Now Cain…" she started to squeeze the trigger.

But she balked slightly when X quietly stood in front of Cain, blocking her line of fire, his face surprisingly neutral.

She frowned, "X, move."  
"No."  
"X, enough of being stubborn."  
"**No**."  
Miss Maquin slowly shut her mouth, rather surprised how unnaturally firm X sounded, unlike the childish way he said it before.  
"Doctor Light said that I could make my own decisions and determine my own actions. And I did everything I was told because I wanted to be helpful – but you only **lied**," X said, stressing the last word as if it was an abomination, "Lots of people have lied. And it only hurt everyone else. I don't know why you did everything, but I'm not a…a marvel or technological advance. I'm X."  
Cain stared in surprise at X's behavior. He never seemed to be so determined about his own existence before, or truly stood up to anyone like this, not even threatened with memory-wipe. But now this, when his friend was being threatened? When he was lied to? Was that so important?  
Miss Maquin seemed to be thinking along the same lines, narrowing her eyes thoughtfully, "So what are you going to do, X?"  
X blinked. After a long moment of contemplation, he mimicked his actions before and aimed his buster, solidly, at her chest. Her eyes flew open in surprise, never been threatened by a robot before.  
"You can't do that." She said quickly.  
"Yes I can. I make my own decisions." X replied frankly.  
"X, they'll wipe your mind if you break First Law, you know that, right?" Cain reminded.  
"But how is that any different to getting my mind wiped any way if I don't stop her? If I don't, then we'll both get hurt," X turned slightly to look at Cain, "But you can't be reactivated like me."  
Cain looked at X for a long moment, "That's true," he turned to Miss Maquin, "Had a change of heart?"  
She slowly took a step backwards, "Put down the buster, X."  
"No." he replied simply.  
"Damn you, you stupid machine!" she hissed, "You're a Megaman, a robot, a damned machine!"  
X nodded, "I know. But Megaman did the right thing."

Miss Maquin shut up. Having a machine rather determinedly refuse her will was absolutely unfathomable, and Tryne's echoed around in her mind ominously. For the first time in years, she felt a long creeping sense of dread to realize the situation she had just locked herself into from the beginning.

_"He could break the First Law." Miss Maquin gasped. "Well, if he ever did, I think it'd be because he didn't know better. Right now, he doesn't have enough experience to know what the emotion 'hate' is. He's got no valid reason to hurt anyone." "That will change, you know that." "True, but, well…humans aren't programmed. All of us could hurt another if we wanted. But not all of us do – why? Because we've taught it's wrong to do that. So along with teaching X about stuff like history and social sciences, we must teach him ethics and morals. And the laws of society. To do the right thing, really."_

In the next moment a shot went off, slamming into her chest with a crackle of sudden electrical energy, her muscles writhing in agony as she crumpled to her ground. She slumped on the floor, unconscious, dart gun falling uselessly to the floor. There was a long moment of stunned silence as the group stared at her limp form.

Cain stared open mouthed, before he finally murmured, "X….you didn't…"  
X blinked, and then lowered his buster, "No that wasn't me. Are you alright, Tryne?"  
Tryne let out a wheeze, letting his taser gun slip through his fingers and clatter upon the floor, before giving a proud smile, "I think…we're even now."  
"Oh leave it to the last second, would you?" Cain snapped, before throwing his hands into the air, "That's it, heck with this. Let's get outta here. X, can you carry him out until we nab a van?"  
"Sure I can," X replied, and gently picked Tryne off the floor, "Where will we go?"  
Cain laid a hand on X's shoulder, "X, my boy…any where but here."


	5. Epilogue: Something Learned

=============================  
Epilogue: Something Learned.  
=============================

Cain stretched slightly, his legs straining before he let them flop back onto the sand, as he sat perched under his sun umbrella. Before him was a long stretch of sun-coloured desert, large curving rock formations sweeping across the landscape. The sky was a brilliant vibrant blue faded to a light shade around the horizon, fading far off landmarks into a deep indigo.

Sprawled around him were his little digger robots, going through their cycles of digging as they collected rocks and fossils, chirping and beeping away. And amongst it all was X, standing with his own holo-pad of information, helping direct the robots that swarmed around his ankles. He looked up to the scientist, smiled with a wave, before working back on his pad. Cain gave a brief smile with a wave of his own, before looking glumly at his own pad.

It had been three weeks already before he, X, and Tryne escaped the Ogani Tech laboratory and into the city, leaving the unconscious Miss Maquin behind. Tryne quickly volunteered to search inside X to retrieve the tracking chip, which was removed and destroyed. He handed over a copy of X's scanning data, the only back up that existed, smiling thinly, "You should take care of it. It's up to you what you do with it." 

Then he left, and he hadn't seen them again since. Although Cain mused he was rather busy, turning to his nearby screen of the news, detailing how a whistle-blower had just given blueprints of highly illegal military robots over to the authorities and media. Miss Maquin was currently under detainment, and Light Industries under investigation. He could care less.

What worried him was X. In a matter of hours the robot had taken a large step in maturity and shown he understood his education better than anyone realized. Underneath the guise of a naïve, helpful robot, he was certainly someone who wanted to do the right thing. But afterwards he had gone back to being a shy little robot again, as if somewhat disturbed himself over his own actions.

Which was why Cain took him back to his own private home in the Haemeda hills, away from prying eyes and baffled stares that seemed to follow the robot everywhere. X accompanied him on his expeditions, and his behaviour improved dramatically – being locked in a lab seemed to stunt his progress. He learned more and became more human every day until he was almost unrecognisable from the monotonous robot Cain first met.

It didn't matter in any case, in the end. X was a person who needed someone to keep an eye on him from here on out, and while Cain was not proud on his past performance, he was going to keep an eye on X until the day he died. No matter what the future contained.

END.

------------------------------------  


Author notes: This only only part one of a series, so don't worry, it doesn't end here ;)


End file.
